How much RAM do I need

Can anybody tell me how much RAM I need for the following

I am running WinXP on a Dell Optiplex (Celeron) and normally have open 4 to 6 copies of Word 2000 (which I presume grabs far more RAM than the earlier versions one copy of Word open with 4-6 files), Outlook, sometimes Paint and have to run Acrobat DISTILLER 6 often (I am the company tech writer).

I believe I need more RAM but the Sysadmin says 128 meg is more than adequate.

Re: How much RAM do I need

<hr>believe I need more RAM but the Sysadmin says 128 meg is more than adequate<hr>

Thats is total rubbish. WinXP does not run very good on 128MB of Ram. I would never run XP with less then 256 MB of Ram. WinXP loves Memory like a kid loves candy. Want a quick performance boost? Add more Ram and a better Video Card and I bet you will notice the difference.

Re: How much RAM do I need

We just went from 512MB RAM to 1GB RAM and have noticed a significant improvement in performance. This was for the display of thumbnails in a program called CompuPic - kind of the same procedure you could get with newer versions of Windows Explorer where the View menu allows you to choose ThumbNails as a viewing option.

Re: How much RAM do I need

Your "Systems Administrator" needs to get off his high horse and get down where the real people live and work. An XP system with128 MB of RAM just barely runs itself and can't get out of it's own way when you start multi tasking. If that RAM is being shared by your sound and/or graphics it becomes even more inadequate. Most users who multi-task will tell you that 512MB is the MINIMUM necessary to run the system optimally. While 128MB may be "adequate" in his book, ask him to do your job for a day and then tell you it's enough to do the job properly. Adequate is a relative term.

Re: How much RAM do I need

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<hr>WHICH book (preferably from MS)<hr>

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I just re-read your post and realized that the MS book is probably the one your systems administrator is going by. MS has ALWAYS under reported the amount of RAM required for their OS's. I poked around and came up with a few sites that support your (and our) beliefs about RAM.

From this site I came up with the following (even though the subject was the swap file). [i]At one time, the level of RAM in a system often gave you a good idea as to how heavily the PC was used; only those with large amounts of memory really needed it since it cost too much for the casual user. This is no longer the case, many users today have PCs with 128MB of RAM running XP and editing pictures or playing games that tax the system

Re: How much RAM do I need

Could you have wronged this SysAdmin in an earlier life? If it's not bad karma, perhaps it's the usual concern that what one gets everyone else will want. You could try to get a special exception from management, if you think that on balance it would not make your life more miserable. Or perhaps there is a way to appeal to the SysAdmin's geek pride and/or sense of can-do/competitiveness with an appropriate challenge of some sort. If nothing else works, there's always the possibility of dispensing appropriate favors ("let me help you with that status report").

You are correct of course, that an end run to management could alienate this fellow and make daily life miserable. If his opinion of himself is as high as is indicated, it might be difficult to challenge someone who believe's they have already conquered all that is worth conquering in their chosen field. And if, in the face of irrefutable evidence (our posts, of course <img src=/S/clever.gif border=0 alt=clever width=15 height=15>), he refused to yield to the wisdom of the masses.......... well, they shoot horses, don't they ??? <img src=/S/newbrain.gif border=0 alt=newbrain width=21 height=22> <img src=/S/laugh.gif border=0 alt=laugh width=15 height=15>

Re: How much RAM do I need

One other item I forgot to mention in my first reply on this:

Your PC motherboard has an area on it where RAM cards plug into. On my PC, I have room for 3 RAM cards. We had 512 MB of RAM consisting of two 256 MB RAM cards. What we bought a few weeks ago was 1 card holding 512 MB RAM. Now my slots for RAM cards are all filled up.

That does not mean that I can't add more RAM. I would replace one of the 256 MB cards, say, with another 512 MB RAM card as my next step in the future. That would give me a total of 256+512+512 MB = 1.25 GB RAM. The documentation for my PC motherboard says I can have up to a max of 3 GB RAM, which would be 3 RAM cards, each holding 1 GB.

So if you can talk your sys admin into upgrading your RAM, you might want to at least fill up empty slots and filling the slots with the biggest RAM cards you can get. As someone said, RAM is cheap. You might get pushback saying that you don't need that much RAM for the tasks you do on your job. But 128 MB, as others have said, is really skimpy (and maybe cheap). It could even be dangerous to your mental health as you see things crawling forward very slooooowly.

Re: How much RAM do I need

Tell your Administrator he needs to do a little more reading and talking to Repair Techs before he starts telling people things he knows nothing about. My bet is the money isn't coming out of his pocket for the Memory anyway,,but a Computer running 128 MB of Ram is costing the owner of the company money in many ways.